Antony Colcombe wanted to give something back to the hospital which saved the life of his precious daughter, Lexi

Anthony Colcombe who has raised almost £12,000 for charities which have supported his two-year-old daughter Lexi, who has very severe epilepsy

A loving dad has gone the extra mile for his youngest daughter to raise £12,000 for the hospital which saved her life.

Anthony Colcombe, of Gilfach Road, Tonypandy, completed a 36-mile walk over three days along the Welsh Coastal Walk, and followed it up by climbing the highest mountains in Scotland, England and Wales – Ben Nevis, Snowdon and Scafell Pike – within 24 hours in the National Three Peaks Challenge.

By completing the challenges the 50-year-old has raised thousands of pounds for the Muir Maxwell Trust, the leading distributor of free epilepsy alarms, and the Noah’s Ark Appeal children’s department at University Hospital of Wales which has cared for his two-year-old daughter Lexi.

When Lexi was four months old it became clear she had a very severe epilepsy condition, and on March 6 2013, she was taken to the University Hospital of Wales and went straight into intensive care because she was having seizures every five minutes.

The next 11 weeks of Lexi’s life were spent at this hospital, during which she was having up to 100 seizures a day.

Anthony, a father-of-four, said: “Nobody really knows to what exact extent the epilepsy will affect Lexi’s life.

“We’ve been told it is unlikely she’ll live until she’s 18, but we were also told she might not make it to the age of two.

“She has made it to her second birthday though and so we just take each day as it comes.”

Lexi’s illness came “completely of out the blue” for her family – as her three older siblings and other relatives have never suffered from epilepsy.

Anthony said: “Having Lexi has been life-changing as she’ll never walk or talk and she can’t coordinate so it’s difficult to judge whether she’s happy or not.

“Having her to look after however has brought us closer as a family as we’d do anything for her.

“She was in the children’s department for a long time when she was four months old and so I wanted to give something back to them.

“The hospital has had an extension but it needs equipment, so the money I raise will hopefully go towards that.

“The Muir Maxwell Trust also offered us a monitor to record her nighttime seizures, so I wanted to donate money to them as well.”

Anthony, who aims to raise £15,000 by next year, is now looking into completing another Snowdon climb, a London-to-Brighton walk and a London-to-Paris bike ride as well holding a charity night in September at Penygraig Labour Club.

One of Anthony’s eldest daughters Jade, 20, is also hoping to raise money for Noah’s Ark by completing the February 2015 trek up the 5,895m-high Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

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